Our 11th Annual "Old Drum Outing" weekend was a great success! Everyone arrived at the Island Inn in Atlantic Beach, NC on Friday. The night was full of activities including a cookout and visit to the Atlantic Beach Police and Fire departments where we were welcomed and enjoyed a tour of the fire house. Time was also spent at the Crystal Coast Brewing Company. The kids especially enjoyed playing games at the arcade. Saturday started early with a trip to the North River Sporting gun range. There was some friendly competition on the range, followed by food and fellowship at a cookout hosted by The Turner family in Smyrna, NC. The main event, fishing for Old Red Drum was Saturday evening. All that participated had a great night on the water and several fish were landed! Sunday the group enjoyed a tour of Fort Macon State Park. 

Thank you to all the volunteers and sponsors who make this weekend possible. What a privilege it is to give back to our warriors and their families! 

Old Drum Fishing Event Slideshow

First, and foremost, Thank you to Larry for donating this tag so that we may have had the opportunity to provide this hunt to a deserving Veteran. Thank you to Elk View Inn for hosting our guides and hunter the last several days so that they could GLAMP! Matt Schafer with Frontier Processing (his breakfast sausage is the Chef's Kiss!!). Wheel's Motel for patiently and continuously being flexible with us to house our guests. Cedar Mountain Taxidermy (Donny) that not only helped guide, but is going to do one hell of a mount on this moose (if you have any question about his talent, look no farther than our living room). Teton Distributors for the gracious donation of beverages. And, a thank you to our guides - Shane and Justin!

WHAT a way to start a season! Congrats on getting this big guy!

Grouper Grapple in Fort Myers Hosted by Tunaskin and Florida Structural Group.

Combat Warriors would like to thank Tunaskin and Florida Structural Group for inviting our Combat Warriors to Fort Myers Florida for the Annual Grouper Grappler tournament. These companies know how to get it done. After the airline fiasco and taking eight hours for our Warriors to get from North Carolina to Florida by plane, it was really time to get some R&R .

The Warriors settled into their hotel room.They proceeded to Snug Harbor restaurant in Fort Myers for a great dinner and were introduced to their captains for the tournament Saturday. They arrived at 4:30 AM to board their boats for a great day of fishing. The weather was a little toasty, but the fishing was even hotter. At the end of the day with all boats in ,over 640 pounds of cleaned fish we're on ice . Sunday morning up and out for some inshore fishing out of Port Sanibel Marina. Fishing was a little slow, but still an enjoyable day on the water. After lunch, TunaSkin provided the Warriors with a shopping spree at their headquarters. If you haven't checked out their clothing line, you're missing out. Great for outdoors. Visit Tunaskin apparel aquatic.com and check them out. To wrap up the weekend it was back to Snug Harbor restaurant for the silent auction and banquet award, dinner and awards. After dinner, we lounged at the Litehouse Inn for camaraderie and fellowship.

This four day three night event hosting eight Combat Warriors included airfare, all meals, hotel, shopping spree, spirits , Charter boats with guides all donated at 100% by Tunaskin and Florida Structural Group . I would personally like to thank these patriots for the trip of a lifetime that these Warriors will never forget.

Additionally, thanks go to Geof and Dustin for coordinating and implementing the work it took for their Brothers In Arms to have one hell of a weekend. They also run fine limousine service.

This year Combat Warriors NC was privileged to give away a one-week beach stay to a Gold Star Family.
We are very grateful for this opportunity and we look forward to show support for many more.

‘I cannot thank your team enough for honoring my family and our sacrifices. A week at the beach was a much needed respite from this very busy season of life. Please enjoy some photos of our trip below. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart!’

Combat Warriors, Inc Wyoming Chapter hosted our first ever event outside of Wyoming. We were able to provide 9 veterans and one of the veterans son with an upland bird hunt for Chukars at Rose Hill Game Preserve in Culpeper, Virginia and provide them with a catered BBQ lunch! When you see me asking for support for a fundraising event, just know this is why I am doing it. Every penny goes towards events like this, no member is paid, we are all volunteers. Photography courtesy of: IG:@musa_visual_media FB: @musavisual He also is a combat veteran who served his country honorably in the United States Marine Corps.

Combat Warriors - Wyoming

This past weekend Combat Warriors Inc. - East Texas hosted its 8th annual Warriors hog hunt at Hunters Creek Ranch.

5 soldiers with a combined over 70 years of service had a great time! Thank you to all Veterans and active Military.

Combat Warriors - East Texas

We wrapped up an awesome event this weekend. We hosted 6 youth hunters and their parents for a great weekend of turkey hunting. We managed to get a couple birds even with freezing temps and gusty winds.

The kids had a blast patterning the guns and playing hide and go seek late into the evening. We fished and played until they were they completely wore out. We had some great pizza from La Casetta in Scotland Neck and enjoyed some awesome cooking from CT Hasty and his famous BBQ chicken.

Big thanks to Joey Cotton and family for letting us use his beautiful spot once again and cooking lunch. Thank you to Mr. Jimmy Shields for letting us fish his pond. Big thanks to all the guides who came out and spent time with the kids and their parents. They all braved the not so cooperative weather and birds throughout the weekend. Can’t wait for the next event!

Combat Warriors would like to thank Graham Dozier and the NeuPamBa Duck Club for hosting four of our Combat Veterans for a duck hunt. When you are invited to an event you have expectations on what the event will be like in the hunting and the fellowship and NeuPamBa exceeded all expectations. The ducks cooperated providing our Warriors with a duck hunt that could not be any better and the fellowship was outstanding.

A special thanks to Graham, Reggie, Tommy and the members of the NeuPamBa Duck Club for creating lasting memories.

We were privileged to host our cornerstone event again this year. The Combat Warrior Duck Hunt is where it all began for our organization. It is where we found our mission, built bonds, and formed relationships that flourish over a decade later.

Last year we lost a key member, former board member, fervent supporter, and life long hunter, Jason Hocutt, but his memory lives on in this event.

This year we gathered again in the impoundments and waterways around Lake Mattamuskeet to show gratitude to our veterans and introduce some new participants to waterfowling.

Sixteen warriors were taken afield by eight guides, supported by landowners and volunteers. The ducks were not as plentiful as desired, but the comraderie was abundant and the food exceptional.

Thanks to all our organizational volunteers for making this event successful again for our nation’s all volunteer force!

I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the Memorial Day fishing trip your organization provided to me. First, I want to thank Combat Warriors Inc. for everything you are doing for our nation’s veterans, and I also want to thank you specifically for providing me with an opportunity to hang out with current friends and make new friends. I think it would be appropriate to dedicate a paragraph to three areas of the trip; the reception and lodging, the boat and crew, and the overall experience with the group.

            The reception on Sunday and the lodging Sunday evening was pretty amazing. Upon being notified I was selected to go fishing, I began to do research, talk to all of the people I knew that were going, and talking about it non-stop. One of the main reasons for my excitement is because as an avid outdoorsman I know exactly what Hyde County and the OBX have to offer and it is truly a sportsman's paradise. From the time we showed up at Live Oak Lodge until the second we got in our vehicle to come back home I felt like I was around family. The food, the lodge, the people; everything felt so familiar even though I only knew a few people prior. This created a great atmosphere that cultivated friendly competition among boats. The lodging for the evening was also amazing. I have stayed in multiple places in Hyde County and I can say for a fact this is one of nicest places I have seen. It was extremely clean, well taken care of, and the owner even came over and introduced themselves. Overall, I don’t think you could ask for a better situation, we had time to chat and form relationships before getting a good nights sleep.

             As with anything else, when you’re trying something new, you always approach it with caution. I am an avid fisherman and I have chartered many boats in my life but fishing out of Oregon Inlet was something on my bucket list. When we showed up in the morning the excitement only got more intense. When we loaded everything onto the boat and talked to the Captain and Mate it was apparent that they lived and breathed fishing. The boat was immaculate, one of the cleanest boats I have ever laid eyes on, and you can tell it's well kept. The Captain and Mate worked super hard to not only entertain 7,048 of my questions but also to put us on fish. To say the conditions were unfavorable would be an understatement.  The seas were big, the fog was thick, and the weather did not want to cooperate but despite the conditions the Captain and Mate never even slowed down. It was very apparent they were putting everything on the line and it resulted in a few nice fish on a day that I was skeptical we would catch any fish. It was pretty amazing being able to share that experience with my fellow Combat Warriors. I think we have all been in “less than ideal” conditions and I believe thats what makes us closer. We understand  each other’s hardships and to a degree its therapeutic to endure more, particularly when its something you love like fishing. If I could have written that chapter, we would have limited out on tuna but, I am very proud of what the crew was able to get  considering the conditions and seeing the smiles on faces when guys caught their first ever tuna, or mahi made the trip not only unforgettable but priceless. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t change one thing about it.

            Lastly, I would be remissed if I didn’t comment on the overall experience. I think the program you have going is a wonderful thing and Im sure you are aware Memorial day is a special time for veterans. For some it can be hard, and for others it's a celebration of life. While we all want to remember the fallen, I think many would agree that to honor the fallen we should celebrate the living, and I think your event promotes that very concept. Many stories were told on Sunday night, some of which may or may not have been entirely true, but nevertheless we paid tribute to those who couldn’t be there with us. So in closing I want to say that I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event, and I appreciate what you are doing for all veterans. Hopefully, one day I too will be able to provide such an opportunity to a veteran and I can only hope they would feel the same as I do right now. Attached are just a few photos that will always be a part of me. Thank you.

Respectfully Submitted,
William Barber